Favorite Teams

Former Plain Dealer sports writer Russ Schneider of Seven Hills looks back fondly on his years covering the Cleveland Indians and the Browns. He has authored several books, including an encyclopedia of "Cleveland Indians Legends."
(Linda Kinsey, NEOMG)

I saw my first game at League Park in 1936. My mother took me to the games. I've been a longtime Indians fan.

SEVEN HILLS, Ohio -- The pen turned out to be mightier than the baseball bat for Russ Schneider, retired Plain Dealer sports writer and columnist.

Once an aspiring Major League Baseball player, Schneider, of Seven Hills, played for the Indians' minor-league system in its 1949 season, but his real claim to fame came as the Indians columnist for the Plain Dealer and later as its Browns writer.

Retirement, however, doesn't quite capture Schneider's life after newspapers. He's written 14 sports-related books, including a 630-page encyclopedia of the Tribe's top players called "Cleveland Indians Legends," published in 2013.

Schneider believes he covered the Indians at a time when sports writing was most exciting. "It was so much more fun then. The players were more receptive to us."

"I was not a member of their family, but they were my friends," Schneider says of the players. "We would go out to dinner and visit a couple of bars."

All that changed, he says, when players began earning much larger salaries and Major League Baseball tightened its grip on players and the way they interact with the press. Instead of casual one-on-one talks over drinks, team management keeps players at arm's length, Schneider says. Nowadays sports writers meet with players and ask questions in a group setting, lessening the chance for an exclusive story.

Part of the thrill of sports writing, he says, was the intense competition with the other metro daily paper in town, the Cleveland Press. "The baseball writer for the Press and I did not speak for 13 ½ years," he recalls.

Schneider's journey to The Plain Dealer was filled with twists and turns that included various communications and writing jobs and two stints in the Marine Corps – one to serve in WWII and later in the Korean War.

His baseball writing days lasted from 1964-78 – 14 seasons. But with demands of extensive out-of-town travel starting to wear, he decided it was time for a change, which led to one of the most fondly remembered times of his career, that of Browns sports writer.

With that, "Batting Around," Schneider's baseball column, morphed into "Schneider Around," his football column, which he wrote for six seasons.

As it turned out Schneider became the football columnist just as the Cleveland Browns were waking from several years of mostly forgettable seasons. He soon found himself in the middle of arguably the most exciting time for the Browns in many years.

"I really enjoyed covering the Browns because of Sam Rutigliano and Brian Sipe," Schneider says, who admired them both professionally and personally.

Then, from 1983-93, he penned "Plain Dealing," a general sports column, while also working as the paper's investigative reporter for sports.

While Schneider looks back on his years as Cleveland's football writer with obvious affection, it's clear that baseball still has a special place in his heart.

"I saw my first game at League Park in 1936," says Schneider, who is 86. "My mother took me to the games. I've been a longtime Indians fan."

As far as favorite players go, "I covered Gaylord Perry and would rank him right near the top. And I really liked Sam McDowell. I liked him because he was just so accessible. He should have been in the Baseball Hall of Fame."

When it comes to football, Sipe is tops on his list. "Sipe was a prince. He was always my favorite."

After Schneider left the Plain Dealer in 1993, he wrote a bi-weekly sports column for the Sun newspapers that ran for 10 years.

In his second floor home office, Schneider spends time at the computer pounding out copy for the his upcoming book, surrounded by sports memorabilia from his days at the newspaper, including a remarkable display of press credential pins from World Series, All-Star and Super Bowl games.

The new digital world of sports writing holds little appeal for Schneider, who firmly believes his career came at the best time for sports journalists. "It's a completely different world now."

Do you or someone you know have a story to share? Contact "Faces of the Suns" columnist Linda Kinsey at lkinsey@cleveland.com.

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